The Senate is set to consider a health care overhaul without hearings or public input. The White House continues to limit access and conduct meaningless briefings. The public, whose business must be conducted in the open, deserves better. Olivier DoulieryTNS

The Senate is set to consider a health care overhaul without hearings or public input. The White House continues to limit access and conduct meaningless briefings. The public, whose business must be conducted in the open, deserves better. Olivier DoulieryTNS

But the current push to exclude the press and the public from important events seems less tactical than philosophical. Lawmakers and the White House appear convinced the public should play no role in understanding or shaping policy.

“Nobody’s hiding the ball here,” he said last week. “There have been gazillions of hearings on this subject.”

The claim is ridiculous. There have been no hearings — none — on the specifics of the Republican health care bill. Hearings allow members of the public and interested observers to analyze bills in real time and offer amendments and adjustments if needed.

The Trump White House leaks like a Kansas City water pipe. But it continues to shut out mainstream reporting by holding meaningless press briefings — or canceling them altogether — and by blocking access to the president.

Neither approach is acceptable.

The public’s business must be done in public. That means the fullest possible disclosure of important information, sufficient time and opportunity to understand and analyze options and — yes — access for journalists who represent the public’s interest when questioning politicians and public servants.

Washington continues to fall woefully short of those goals. Our leaders must do better, or the public’s already diminishing faith in government will continue to erode.